


King of Blood and Thorns

by Listless_Songbird



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Found Family, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 13:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15774621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Listless_Songbird/pseuds/Listless_Songbird
Summary: Finding himself suddenly stolen from his home and caught within a multigenerational war between forces unknown, Roman must find a way to save himself and return to his family. Along the way he uncovers secrets hidden within the bloody history of the kingdom he has been forced into succession for.What exactly is the incursion? How many princes have been stolen like he was? Just who is the Tempest King? What exactly are the rules to the magic that flows through this world?Join Roman in his journey of Curses, Kings, and Families, as he slowly carves out a place for himself within this strange new world.





	King of Blood and Thorns

There was something off about Roman’s reflection in the mirror.

He couldn’t find anything that was specifically wrong. There were no obvious changes or things he wouldn’t expect, but he was positive something was off. However, after spending far too long scrutinizing his own face, Roman decided that he was just tired, and went to join the others for breakfast. 

By the end of the day Roman had successfully put the whole incident out of his mind, but was promptly jarred back into remembering it when he went to wash up for the night. Once again his reflection seemed different than what he expected; this time Roman was unnerved enough to try to determine what exactly was making his reflection look wrong.

Deciding to start from the top and work down, Roman leaned in and started to dissect his appearance. His hair was fine, it looked wonderful as usual; he had been working on creating a windswept look to it and it had been going well. Next, his forehead and he really hadn’t paid attention to what his forehead had looked like in the past. There didn’t seem to be anything different about it, but then again he didn’t have any reference point. He should really pay more attention in the future and—

Nope, focus, funky reflection, right. His eyebrows looked stunning as usual, he had been thinking about trying to color them red just to try something new, but he wouldn’t pull them off as well as Talyn did so that idea was tabled till another day.

Okay now his eyes. And maybe? Yes. Something seemed to be different about them. It wasn’t their color, that was the same, or his eyelashes or eyelids, but something deeper. More elusive, like a burning behind them possibly, like a soul deep anger.

Between one blink and the next it had vanished, and Roman was back to seeing himself in the mirror. It was quite possibly more irritating than if he hadn’t been able to find out the reason at all! Huffing in exasperation, Roman brought himself back from his impromptu self-critique and checked once again that whatever the change had been, it was gone now. Satisfied, Roman finished his skin care routine and headed to bed. Maybe it would be best to sleep a few extra hours tonight. 

 As Roman was drifting off he heard a faint noise, like an echo of footsteps on marble in an empty room. It wasn’t loud enough to be anything real, it was more of an impression than a noise, but as he thought about it his thoughts started to stray off into the distance and soon he fell into the arms of Morpheus. 

* * *

 

Roman opened his eyes and found himself in the middle of a thick cover of shadows, barely able to see his hand in front of his face.

There was something wrong here.

There was something dangerous here with him and he couldn’t see.

Suddenly, coming from seemingly from everywhere at once there was a noise. It sounded like a mix between a growl and something like a whisper of wind, it made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

There was something here with him. He was in danger, he was in danger and he couldn’t see.

Suddenly without him summoning it, his sword appeared in his hand. Roman hefted it in his hand and tried to figure out who or what was in here with him. Slowly turning in a tight circle, Roman strained his ears to hear, something, anything that would give him a clue of where his opponent was. A whisper of a growl was all the warning he got before he was suddenly attacked.

Roman brought his sword up just in time to catch the blade of his foe before it contacted his face. Well, it was human then, or at least wielded a sword. This? This he could do. Roman brought his sword down where he was sure the sword holder should be standing.

The floor fell away from and Roman was falling down, and down, and down, and—

* * *

 

Roman sat up and rubbed at his eyes. He couldn’t remember much from his dream, just darkness and the feeling of anticipation. Taking a few deep breaths, Roman did his best to calm himself down so he wouldn’t spend the rest of the day on edge. It was just a dream, nothing to get himself worked up over. That he should save for the real dangers of adventuring and slaying beasts! Suitably calmed Roman got out of bed and headed down for breakfast.

Logan was the first one up today which meant omelettes and toast, not the most exciting but always delicious regardless. Grabbing his plate Roman sat down next to Virgil and began to dig in.

Halfway through, he heard the sound of fingers being drummed on the table. At first it was fine, it was probably just Virgil lost in thought, but after a few minutes it was beginning to get on his nerves. Turning to Virgil to tell him to cut it out already, the words died on the tip of his tongue. Virgil wasn’t drumming his fingers, but the sound was still droning on and on in his ears. 

Looking around didn’t give any explanation either; Patton was just coming down the stairs, wrapped in a blanket and making a beeline for the coffee. Logan had just sat down and was doing part of a crossword, he would give the rest to Patton later that day so he could fill out the more ‘contemporary’ parts, like actors names, movie references, etc. Roman had already ruled Virgil out, so where was the sound coming from? 

“You alright there Princey? You’re doing a stunning performance of a startled owl.” Virgil’s comment brought Roman out of his search, and as he turned to reply, the drumming faded. Confused, Roman brushed off Virgil’s question. 

“Oh you give me the sweetest compliments, apple-of-my-eyeshadow. It’s nothing really, I’m just a bit on edge, I suppose you could say, from a dream last night. I’m fine, honestly, this will be swept away by the sweet call of adventure soon enough.” 

“Are you sure Ro? I’m here if you want to talk about it,” Patton interjected, having draped his blanket over the couch as he sat down with his omelette and cup of coffee. 

“Nothing to tell Pop. Tragically I can’t remember anything about it, which is irritating, but not uncommon at all. I’ll be fine soon, and if I’m not I’ll come see you. Promise.” With that resolved, the four of them settled in to their usual morning chatter and left to go about their days. 

True to his word, the unease did fade by the end of the day, and Roman was feeling very content. Regardless of what the others thought, Roman didn’t actually go on epic quests when he needed to calm down. Instead he spent his time walking through the village near his castle. He loved interacting with all the villagers, doing small tasks that would help their days run smoothly, or conjuring up flowers or pinwheels for the children. He still felt like he was being watched, but he chalked that up to being surrounded by the others in the village. The work was centering in its simplicity, existing in a space where the biggest problems were a tipped produce cart.

Breaking out of his reminiscing, Roman snapped himself into his pajamas and went to go lay down on his bed and maybe listen to some music before he slept. As he was grabbing his headphones from on top of his dresser, he caught his reflection out of the corner of his eye. Once again he was struck by the notion that there was something wrong, but as soon as he turned to take a longer look the feeling vanished and his reflection was back to normal.

This time, instead of footfalls in an empty room the noise ushering him into his dream was the creaking sound of a drawbridge being lowered.

* * *

 

Roman was standing at the entrance to the village with the sun setting behind him, long shadows stretching across the ground and the sky a turning to a gentle rose pink. Roman looked around and saw that this wasn’t his village, not quite. It was deserted for one thing, lights out, windows shuttered, not a single soul out in the streets except him. When the sun fully set, Roman became very aware of the differences.

Something was wrong.

The moon was whole and blood red, almost painful to look at against the night sky. Everything was tinted by the light, leaving the empty streets bathed in copper tones; the shadows bled into one another, without any clear lines, leaving them looking like pools of blood.

Roman couldn’t move. He hadn’t tried before now, but he couldn’t move. He felt rooted in place and he felt helpless as the shadows ran together and began to move on their own. Seeping into the gaps in the cobblestone road, moving slowly towards Roman, slowly gaining more mass, until it looked like the ground was rippling.

Roman struggled to move as the blood red shadows got closer and closer and—

* * *

 

Roman woke up staring at the ceiling and blinked the sleep from his eyes. He didn’t feel on edge like yesterday, but he did feel that the dream he had was important. Somehow. If only he could remember? Roman thought back and all he got was the impression of red, so he gave up on the attempt, and went downstairs for breakfast. 

Breakfast was uneventful, and Roman decided to take a lazy day around the mindscape. For some reason he just didn’t feel like going to the imagination at the moment, and there were many other things he could be doing instead. Plopping down on the couch Roman turned on Moana and conjured some paper to doodle on as he watched. Not really paying much attention to what he was drawing, Roman eventually stopped in favor of turning his full attention to Moana.

The movie was amazing as always and Roman stretched out and soon relaxed completely, closing his eyes he just rested. Not really sleeping, but floating in the space between awake and asleep. Eventually the movie ended and Roman reluctantly came back to himself and went to pick up his doodles.

Looking at them, he was puzzled. They seemed to all be of thorny vines crawling up walls or bramble patches. Trying to remember if he had seen anything recently that would have led to these, Roman made his way back to his room. Putting the drawings on his desk, he grabbed a book at random from his shelves and settled down to read.

Some time later Roman was abruptly brought back to the present by the feeling of being watched again. Looking up from his book, Roman swept his gaze around the room, not finding anyone there. His brow furrowing, he set his book down and did a more thorough scan, trying to pinpoint exactly where he felt the gaze coming from.

When he got to his dresser he made eye contact with himself in the mirror and once again saw eyes that weren’t his own. They weren’t exactly angry anymore, more like determined; Roman found he couldn’t look away. After what seemed like an eternity, the eyes vanished, leaving only his own reflection in the mirror once again.

Roman spent his evening creating, or trying to at least, and it wasn’t because he didn’t want to go to sleep _thank you very much_. He was just in a mood to make something new. However, no matter how many times he put his pen to the paper all he ever drew was vine after thorny vine. Growling in exasperation, Roman balled up his latest attempt and hurled it at the wall. Rubbing his face with one hand, Roman took a deep breath, held it, and let it out slowly. He needed to sleep, no matter what the night held.

Flopping onto his bed, Roman did his best to slow his breathing and let his mind wander, doing his best to keep the thoughts positive in the hopes it would keep him from another elusive dream. His awareness faded around him, sending him off to sleep with the sound of hoofbeats.  

* * *

 

He was in a forest.

Roman looked around, even as his feet kept moving forward, leading him down a narrow path to somewhere. The trees around him looked gnarled and twisted, the leaves appearing grey under the light of the same blood red moon. Here at least the shadows didn’t move on their own. Roman felt like he was getting close to his destination. He wasn’t sure where his destination was, only that he was getting closer.

The undergrowth faded away somewhere along the line and thorns of all shapes and sizes appeared in their place. The path had long been obscured by the twisted spikes but as he continued to walk forwards they seemed to move to the side, never once grabbing onto his clothes.

Suddenly he stopped.

In front of him lay a massive wall of thorns woven together until there was barely any space between them. Roman reached out a hand and gently ran it along one tendril that was sticking out from the rest, gently guiding it back in to place. Moving along the wall Roman continued to weave the loose vines back into the rest of them. He didn’t know why, but this felt right. This was what he was meant to be doing. The goodness of it seeped into his veins and warmed him from the inside out. Up ahead Roman suddenly saw the vines be torn open and pushed aside.

He was in danger.

Roman rushed forward, conjuring his blade to his hand just in time, as three blood red creatures burst forth through the tear. The three of them turned their attention on him once they sensed his approach, their faces rippling and changing to something distinctly human. Roman was bracing himself for a fight when he was suddenly overwhelmed by a surge of resigned regret and felt himself be tugged backwards by the back of his neck and out of his body.

* * *

 

Roman awoke with a start.

Sitting up he scanned the room. He had been fighting? No, that wasn’t quite right. He had been about to fight? That seemed closer.

Running a hand through his hair Roman glanced at his clock, groaning when he saw that it was only four in the morning. Deciding he was too on edge to even consider trying to fall back asleep, Roman grabbed a blanket and his headphones and trudged downstairs. Curling up on the couch with music blocking everything out, Roman finally felt himself relax.

When the sun finally started rising, Roman moved over to the window to watch. Gorgeous pinks and purples painted the sky and Roman hummed with contentment. Sitting back down to mess around on his phone for a few hours, Roman waited until it was close enough to when the others would be waking that the food wouldn’t get cold before walking into the kitchen and starting to make some french toast.

Despite waking up early, Roman decided to head into the imagination and conjure up a quest of some sort; he hadn’t had a good adventure in quite a while. As he traveled up to the mountain trail that would lead him to the lair of some sort of monster, he hadn’t decided yet, he saw something that struck him as familiar.

There, between two large and twisted trees was a path that looked familiar for some reason. For some reason he thought that there was something missing from the picture. He tried to pull up an image of what he thought it should like but just came up with a strange feeling that he was forgetting something. Something important. Roman rubbed his face with both hands, gritting his teeth in frustration. There was something there, something he needed to remember, he just couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it was.

Now that he thought about it, he had been feeling like he was missing something all week. It hadn’t been as bad as it was today, but there was an undercurrent of it through all of his memories of the last few days. Roman heaved a sigh and reluctantly turned back to head home. He really shouldn’t be fighting anything in this condition, but he was just so restless and filled with… unease? Maybe? Like that feeling when you walk into a room and then forget why you came in. Like he should be doing something, but he didn’t know what.

Leaving the imagination, Roman rose up in the living room and flopped across the couch, much to the annoyance of Virgil who was currently sitting on it. Once he wasn’t moving, the exhaustion hit him like a sack of rocks. He covered his eyes with his arm and let out a low sigh, which caused Virgil to look over.

“You alright there Princey? I almost didn’t recognize you without you swanning about. What’s up?” Roman huffed half a laugh and moved his so he could look at Virgil.

“Just another weird dream. Which would be fine, dreams are diamond mines for new ideas, but only if I can flipping remember them the next day. It doesn’t help that I feel like I’m a walking, talking advert for deja vieux. I think I’m gonna hit the sack early tonight and hope for the best.” Virgil hummed in response and gave Roman’s leg a pat when he moved to sit up.

“I’ll let Pat and Lo know. You go pass out somewhere, preferably on your bed, but do what you want, I’m not your mom.” Roman smiled and stood, stretching and giving a long yawn, before he went off to chase the sandman.

Roman was so drained he was out before his head hit the pillow, but even in his exhausted state he dimly registered the sound of labored breathing sending him off to sleep this time around.

* * *

 

The light streaming through his window woke Roman up and he rubbed at his eyes before running his hand through his hair. He tried to remember if he had a dream last night, but if he did there wasn’t even an impression of one ghosting through his mind.

Roman smiled as he went through his morning routine. He had so much energy, and was ready to meet the day and all of its challenges head on!

Humming Good Morning from Singing in the Rain, Roman came down and saw that Patton had been the first up, meaning breakfast was going to be outstanding. The day just kept getting better! Going to the kitchen, he spun Patton around in a twirl as soon as he set down the pancake batter, leaving both of them smiling.

After breakfast Roman practically sprinted off to the imagination, ready to conquer the beast he had left behind yesterday, deciding to leave the last few days in the past where they belonged.

He went back up the trail he had started going down the previous day. When he came to the point he had stopped at yesterday, instead of continuing up the trail, he turned down the path between the gnarled trees. The undefined beast could wait another day; Roman sensed there was an adventure awaiting him somewhere in these woods.

Roman was on his guard as he traveled deeper and deeper into the forest, until the sun was almost completely blocked by the branches up ahead. The hair on the back of his neck rose as Roman was struck by the feeling of being watched by something seething with fury. Quickly looking around Roman couldn’t see any movement, or anything that could be staring at him. Drawing his sword, Roman slowed his steps, head on swivel until he saw what looked like a creature made of smoke, drifting between the trees ahead of him.

It didn’t look like it had seen him yet so Roman slowly moved forward, tightening the grip on his sword. This thing didn’t look like any of the peaceful denizens of his world, but it didn’t hurt to be sure it wasn’t a peaceful creature before he attacked.

He slowly followed this being until it met up with another smoke creature, and apparently the new smoke monster had seen him, because the two of them pivoted on the spot and attacked. Roman brought his sword up to catch the first swing of the monster, but the smoke merely poured around the blade and crashed into Roman’s shoulder sending him stumbling back.

Well, if his sword wasn’t going to work, than what was? He backed up a few steps and watch the two beasts warily.

Suddenly the feeling of being watched intensified and changed into something much less malicious and while that was better, it was really a distraction he didn’t need at the moment. Roman gave a quick glance around while dancing away from the next swipe from the smoke creature in front of him. He didn’t see anything however, so he turned his attention back to the two in front of him who now seemed to be waiting for his attack.

It would really be much easier to concentrate, if he didn’t have the inner monologue of _shitshitshitshitshitshit-_ going on in his head, and really, what gives? He had faced much worse monsters than this before, this shouldn’t be enough to send him into this sort of frenzy. However, now that he thought about it, it seemed to be coming from outside of his head. Roman called out, still keeping his gaze on the smoke beings in front of him.

“Hello? If you are a citizen of this land, you needn’t fear. I have this situation under control, and if you wish to flee I will cover your escape!” The noise suddenly cut off, and Roman decided that he could deal with that after he had dispatched the foes in front of him.

Thinking of his futile attack with his sword, Roman tried to think of what he should try. Suddenly he had a moment of insight and conjured up a wall of wind between himself and the two.

This seemed to be the signal that the creatures had been waiting for and they surged forwards and up with inhuman movements, stretching and twisting until they looked closer to a cloud than the humanoid shape they had been before.

Working on instinct, Roman brought up his hands and extended the wall up and around the monsters, folding them into the wind like he was wrapping them in a blanket.

As they fought the winds surrounding them, they began to further dissipate, becoming less corporeal and fading into the wind. Before they had entirely faded into a single cloud, Roman gentled the breeze and carefully unfolded the now light breeze from around them. The beings began to reform tentatively as if they weren’t quite sure of what was happening. Roman shaped the breeze into a simple shield in front of him and called out,

“I do not know who you are or from whence you came, but this is your only warning: this land is under my protection and if you are to hurt anyone who resides here, I will not be so lenient a second time!” When it became obvious that Roman wasn’t about to attack, the creatures sped off into the trees, disappearing into the shadows.

Roman spent a good portion of his afternoon searching for the frightened voice he had heard, before deciding that whoever they were, they had most likely run off while he was distracted. Returning to the shared mindscape, Roman regaled the others with the tale of today’s adventure while they had dinner.

Satisfied from the day, Roman spent some time reading before he turned in for the evening. At this point he was curious of what noise he would think of before he went to sleep. Perhaps there was a connection between them and the dreams he couldn’t remember? He would have to ask Logan if that was possible.

As he drifted off he was slightly disconcerted to hear what sounded like an angry growl before he was suddenly plunged straight into a dream.

* * *

 

In front of him stood a humanoid figure completely made of the same thorns that the wall had been made of before.

Before Roman could take in anything else, the thing was attacking. Roman barely brought his sword up in time to parry the thin sword made of thorns to the side and dodge backwards.

Where was he?

The thing didn’t give Roman any pause, pushing forward relentlessly as Roman dodged and parried, trying to get his bearings

What was going on?

Roman followed through on the next parry, striking at the underside of its arm and the monster actually backed up a step, and seemed to be waiting for the next move from Roman.

Why was this thing attacking him?

Roman just stood with his guard up trying to understand what was happening. After a few seconds he heard a thundering growl that seemed to echo around inside of his skull and the beast began attacking with even more power behind each blow. Eventually Roman saw an opening and switched to the offensive. It didn’t matter what was happening, he had to at least give himself enough time to figure out what the heck was happening.

The next time he actually got a hit on the creature it once again stepped back and waited for what he was going to do next, and its behavior was so strange that Roman once again wondered why it was attacking him in the first place?

When he once again just stood there, attempting to adjust to the situation, the resulting growl almost sent him to his knees, and the monster surged forwards and sliced from his shoulder to his elbow.

And that set the pattern. The beast would push forward in its attack until Roman got a hit in. After which it backed up and unless Roman moved to attack immediately the air would shake around him and the beast would carve another slice into him.

Roman felt exhausted; the blood seeping from his wounds made his shirt stick to his skin and his grasp on the hilt of his sword slippery. He had long since given up on trying to figure out what the hell was going and focused on staying on the offensive as much as he could, but his arms felt like they were moving through molasses. He couldn’t keep doing this for much longer.

Roman heard a noise shoot through his skull but instead of a furious growl it was an exasperated sigh before the monster surged forward one last time and—

* * *

 

Roman shot awake, letting out a half strangled cry followed immediately by a choked gasp as he tried to get air into his lungs. Darting back to brace himself against the headboard of his bed, Roman curled in on himself, wrapping one arm around his legs and the other going to tug on his hair.

Roman tried to slow his breathing, but he couldn’t calm down, something was wrong he was in danger he was about to die there was nothing he could do what was happening he was in danger he was being attacked he was going to die where was he.

The thoughts raced faster and faster through his head, and Roman became aware of the fact that he was letting out a high pitched whine but he couldn’t stop it he couldn’t breathe he couldn’t do anything. What was going on?

“Roman? Roman can you hear me?” At the sound of a voice from the door, Roman sprung into action, scrambling off of his bed, practically tripping over himself trying to move away, move off the bed get away, get ready to fight, brace for attack, anything.

“Princey? Can you hear me? Its Virgil, I’m going to come in and move away from the door. You’re safe, it’s 11:00 in the morning. You are at home in your room. You are safe. Patton and Logan are downstairs, they’re safe. I’m away from the door, you can get out if you need to.” Roman had tuned into what Virgil was saying halfway through; he was gasping out short breaths but at least he could focus on Virgil now.

“Roman? You with me? Would you like me to stay or leave?” Virgil stayed where he was and kept his voice soft, giving him a question with only two choices. Roman nodded at the first and shook his head at the second, still trying to get his breathing back under control.

“Alright, I’m staying, would you like me stay here or come over to you?” Another simple question, and Roman could feel some of the tension bleed off as he pointed to himself and hoped Virgil would understand. Virgil did, and he came across the room to him, making sure to never block Roman’s path to the door.

As soon as he came close enough Roman fell forwards and pressed his forehead into Virgil’s shoulder and grasped at his upper arms. He let out a shuddering breath when Virgil’s arms closed gently around him, and just let himself stay there for a bit as he wrestled his breathing back under control. When he finally stopped shaking, Virgil pulled back slightly and looked Roman over.

“Do you want to go downstairs at see Patton and Logan?” Roman nodded his head, still not feeling completely up to words yet, and let himself be led down the stairs.

Patton was sitting on the couch and watching the staircase with a worried expression.  Logan had been trying to force his attention into reading a book, but quickly shut it and moved to stand in the living room as soon as he heard them coming down the stairs.

Virgil steered Roman onto the couch next to Patton and positioned himself on the other side, never breaking contact with Roman. Logan sat down on the table across from Patton, giving Roman room, but wanting to be close.

Eventually Patton broke the silence.“Hey there Ro, is there anything you need?”

Roman reached out his free arm and looked to both Patton and Logan. Patton immediately scooched over and brought his arms around Roman, with Logan close behind.

The four of them were still tangled together when they felt the tug that meant Thomas was summoning them. Virgil looked at Patton and Logan over Roman’s head, and they both shook their heads looking just as confused as Virgil felt. Roman groaned and rubbed a hand over his face, meaning he could feel it to. Logan untangled himself from them and looked Roman up and down.

“Are you capable of going down? We, or one of us can go down and see what he wants if you aren’t or you don’t want to. There is no pressure either way, there isn’t a video today so it isn’t for that.” Roman was shaking his head before Logan had even finished his sentence.

He was fine, really, he had calmed down now. He still felt like someone was watching him, but that was probably just because the others were focused on him. And big surprise- he couldn’t even remember what the dream had been about! He was getting so tired of these weird dreams he could almost scream.

Realizing that the others had been staring at him Roman breathed in slowly and said, “Right now-” his voice cracked and he scowled and cleared his throat. “Right now, some normalcy would be welcomed with open arms.”

He untangled himself fully and stood, with the others following behind. Roman was disheveled but he really couldn’t bring up the energy to fix his appearance at the moment so Thomas would have to deal with sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt.

Following the tug, the four of them rose in their usual places. The others shot worried glances over at him but Roman braced himself and turned his attention to Thomas, who was, actually looking much the same as Roman. He wasn’t as bad as he had been in Accepting Anxiety, but he was much more disheveled than Roman was used to seeing, but really? He couldn’t judge at the moment.

Thomas looked up when the four of them showed up, but he didn’t immediately offer up a reason he had summoned them, which really got Roman worried. Before he could figure out what he wanted to ask, Patton beat him to it.

“What’s wrong kiddo? Is there something going on?”

Thomas looked over to Patton and brought his hands up in frustration. “I don’t know Patton? Is there something going on? I’ve felt on edge the whole week! I was handling it just fine until this morning, so I called you thinking I would check up on Verge, but Roman is the one who looks like a hot mess, so I just want to know what’s happening?”

Roman ran a hand through his hair feeling frustrated.“It’s not like I want to be like this Thomas.” Roman bit out the name, still on edge and still feeling like he was being watched and he was so _sick_ of feeling like that. “I didn’t even know it would affect you, I’m not Mr. Doom-and-Gloom over there. I thought the worst that would happen would be a creative block, so just _get off my back_.” Logan looked slightly taken aback at Roman’s tone, and Virgil just looked defensive, but Patton looked concerned.

“Thomas, you said you’ve been feeling like this all week?” At Thomas’s nod Patton turned to look at Roman. “Ro? Has it been like this for a week with you too?” Roman brought his hand out of his hair and made a whatever motion.

“I guess? I’ve been having these dreams that I can’t remember and that would have been fine. I suppose. But when I’m awake I constant feel like somebody's watching me!” Roman’s voice steadily rose as he got more and more agitated, because the feeling like he was being watched had just gotten worse, and at the end of his sentence Roman spun around, looking behind him and scanning the room, but _he couldn’t see anyone_ and he wanted to scream.

Patton spoke up from behind him, and Roman spun again to face the noise.

“I think the best solution for right now is taking some time for all of us to calm down. How do you two feel about a Disney marathon?” Patton looked to both Thomas and Roman. Thomas nodded and Roman felt himself slump down slightly as he let out the breath he had been holding.

“That sounds like a plan Padre.”

With the five of them working together they quickly found and arranged all of the pillows and blankets they could find, and they all squished in with each other, with Roman and Thomas in the middle.

The feeling of being watched faded by the end of the first movie, and by the end of the third, Roman felt good enough to sing along. Soon the trials of the day caught up with him, and even though it was early, surrounded by his family, Roman felt himself slip into sleep.

* * *

 

Roman was sitting in a clearing, with his back against the trunk of a massive tree. In front of him were three large stones, clustered together and with something carved on them. Roman tried to focus on what they said, but found his gaze wandering over the ground instead. It was a strangely calming sight, even if Roman couldn’t distinguish anything that would have made it so.

Roman’s gaze drifted down to his hands, which were tracing patterns into the dirt next to him.

It was soothing and Roman felt himself get lost in the motions of it for awhile until eventually he looked up, and his gaze caught on something in between the trunks of the trees surrounding the clearing. He looked closer and flinched. It was a massive wall of the same type of thorns that had attacked him last night.

At his flinch, he felt a wave of muted sorrow, and then he felt his mouth open, and he was speaking, but it wasn’t his voice. Or it was, but there was something different about it, like his eyes in the mirrors.

“Go _home_ Prince.” He stressed the word home and took a deep breath before speaking again. “Go home to your family, I won’t haunt you any longer.”

Roman felt wave of regret before he felt a tug at the back of his neck again, but this one was much gentler, and Roman drifted into the black of a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Here's my spotify playlist for this fic!](https://open.spotify.com/user/elionwards/playlist/6AiuilDMHfHOT1hUUaWWui?si=zkDYaR5NQkaaqx82KrDiNw)


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